Photos by Peter Sigmund
From Larry Goodman:
Southern Honor Wrestling had put on two sensational wrestling matches since their forced relocatiion to Reformation Brewing: Alexander Lev vs. Joe Black Clockwork Orange House of Fun for the SHW Championship at the company's christening of the venue (11/14/25) and the Infantry vs. Skulk Tag Team Ironman match (2/6/26).
Now there are three. Alexander Lev, Hunter James and Bryce Cannon knocked it out of the park in their unique two falls match with the both singles titles on the line.
Cannon won the first fall to become a two-time JTS Legacy Champion. Lev won the second fall to retain the SHW Championship. James left beltless and is now a two-time former Legacy Champion.
Grayson Pierce and Christian Taylor were back to shop wrecking ways. They victimized Sal Rinauro and wanted to the same to Lev after the main event. Pierce and Taylor may now find former SHW Champion Joe Black and rising fan favorite Herculon Rage standing in their way.
Attendance was 267: a hot crowd as always but the lowest number of SHW's Reformation Brewing events. Spring Break hangover? Heavy competition on beautiful spring night? Your guess is as good as mine. Whatever the case may be, this was another excellent show from Dylan Frymyer and SHW.
SHW 81 clocked in at under two hours. My sense is the move to a shorter format with no intermission had been much to their advantage with the crowd at Reformation Brewing. SHW dropped the intermission when they were still at the Action Building but not the length of the show.
Matt Griffin opened the show, wearing a backwards Boston Red Sox hat and told Diana Michel not to get "girl cooties" on his can of Twisted Tea. He was getting nuclear heat without saying a word, but of course Griffin had to talk and show off his "Canton is Matt Griffin Territory" t-shirt, which drew a Pavlovian "Gary" chant.
The appearance of Joe Black and Amy Haven got a huge relief pop.
(1) Joe Black (with Amy Haven) defeated JT Paradox in 10:05. Joe schooled Paradox in the early going. He shrugged off Paradox's german suplex. Paradox' chest was mass of welts. Joe took a wicked belly to belly suplex into the ringside seats.
Back inside the ring, Paradox kicked out of Joe's DDT at one. Building to the finish, Paradox hit a dragon suplex and planted Black with this insane torture rack bomb.
Joe kicked out of both and had the crowd chanting his name. Black almost pinned Paradox with the ropes walk cutter before spearing him for the win.
Black said it felt so good to be back. He asked the crowd yeah or nay on Paradox. They chanted "Yes!" Black said Paradox took and gave an ass whipping and earned his respect. Joe raised JT's hand. The crowd chanted "JTP."
SHW crowds are traditionally on fire right at the jump of the opening match. This was different. The crowd was on simmer and gradually built to a raging boil in closing minutes. SHW can be tough crowd for newcomers. Paradox got over like gangbusters. His work was super solid and he was in with one of the best as SHW's gatekeeeper.
(2) Herculon Rage defeated Hayden Seal (representing Cartello Grillo) via submission in 5:45. Seal said he was not scared. Rage had Seal showing fear within two minutes. Seal escaped Rage's first attempt at his finisher and tried to pin Rage with feet on the ropes. Rage pulled the straps down and took Seal out with the cobra clutch.
This match presented a more difficult challenge for the babyface badass than his first two SHW matches where he was wrestling heels with loads of experience and he passed the test with flying colors. Seal has clearly been developing his chops as a heel with the reps he's getting at 1FW.
One half the SHW Tag Team Champions Adrian Alanis said he advised his better half Liam Gray to stay home. He would test out Top Shootas to see if they were worthy of a title shot. Adrian's arrogance knows no bounds.
(3) Adrian Alanis defeated Maurice Moss (with Trey D'Rula) in 3:02. Alanis threatened to use the title belt. Paul Santa put up the stop sign. While Santa was getting rid of the belt, Alanis gave Moss a low blow and rolled him up.
Brandon Benefield had received one of his text message edicts from matchmaker Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Since Alanis did not beat Moss in a champion-like manner, if Da'Rula could beat Alanis, Top Shootas would receive a title shot on May 8.
(4) Trey Da'Rula (with Maurice Moss) defeated Adrian Alanis in 4:57. Da'Rula hit an amazing dive over the top rope. The crowd exploded and almost pinned Alanis with a high cross body. Alanis could not put Da'Rula away with a slingblade lariat or a tiger driver. Da'Rula shot Alanis the double birds and the crowd chanted "Trey". An Alanis discus lariat did not get the job done either. Da'Rula caught Alanis by the foot and pinned him.
This was pretty much perfection. Gray not being there was a Felix Culpa. Equity will have their hands full with Top Shootas. Da'Rula got breath-taking ups on his aerial moves.
(5) Ravenna Vein defeated Jada Stone and Corinne Joy in 10:35. Joy dropped Vein and Stone on their heads. Stone connected on a double missile dropkick. They fought up out of the triple down trading shots. Stone hit a release german on Vein. Joy immediately took Stone out with a lariat. Vein then speared Joy for the three count.
The choreography was a little awkward at times but the dynamic worked. Vein was more over than the TNA star Stone. Dylan pointed out that Vein is a Southern Honor original and there's definitely something to that. Joy brought the ruthless aggression and was chock full of heelish facial expressions and body language.
(6) Grayson Pierce (with Christian Taylor) defeated Sal Rinauro in 11 minutes. Sal had the mental and physical advantage in the early going. A feisty young girl in the front row gave Pierce a better chop than either of the competitors in previous match were able to pull off. Taylor set a pick and Pierce capitalized. Pierce signaled for the 450.
Rinauro evaded and was ready to take his head off with a superkick but Taylor pulled Pierce out. Rinauro hit a pescado on both of them. Taylor tried to interfere and ate the superkick from Sal. Pierce pounced on Sal with the Skullpiercer.
A combination of good wrestling and compelling story. Rinauro had beaten Taylor twice in a row. This was essentially two against one with the heels getting a ton of heat. Pairing Rage & Black against Pierce & Taylor is a smooth move if that's where this is headed.
(7) SHW Champion Alexander Lev vs. JTS Legacy Champion Hunter James vs. Bryce Cannon: Cannon won the first fall to capture the JTS Legacy title, Lev won the second fall to retain the SHW Championship (16:26). The intro left no question about who's the man at SHW. With complete confidence, Lev allowed the crowd to finish his catch phrase.
Cannon shook Lev's hand and got blindsided by James. Lev broke out a quebradora in the opening minute. They brawled their way into the bar and disappeared from view for a moment.
Each competitor dominated for a stretch, first James, then Cannon, the Lev. Cannon spiked James with a flip DDT and pinned Lev with the Keg Stand (Skull Crushing Finale) at 8:49.
Second fall underway, Cannon and James simultaneously tried to force Lev submit.
Cannon hit a double twisted tea. Lev gave Cannon his own finisher. James gave Lev the Lev Clash but he kicked out for a great false finish. Lev ran wild and had cannon pinned with a Scorion Death Drop but James pulled referee Paul Santa out of the ring. Lev hit the piledriver on James.
But Cannon broke up the pin. The crowd was losing it at this point. Cannon nailed Lev with a disaster kick. James tried and failed to steal the pin. As James was going for the Viperplex, Lev simultaneously caught both them with a sunset flip and pinned James with the Lev Clash.
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Pierce and Taylor hit the ring. Pierce laid Lev out with a belt shot and posed with the SHW title. Black and Rage confronted the rat bastards and Pierce and Taylor took a powder.
This was a great match that told a suspenseful story filled with twists and turns and false finishes. It figured there was only a sliver of chance Lev would be dropping the title, but they way they got there kept the issue in doubt. The execution was everything you would expect when three of the best wrestler in the state share the ring. The competiors did a fantastic job of laying the match out.
NOTES: Brandon Benefield was joined by Griffin on commentary...Diana Michel was the ring announcer...Clark DeBenedetto and Xander Whoric were the other referees along with Santa. DeBenedetto worked the ROH tapings and officiated eleven matches...Lev did an inordinate amount of driving on show day. He arrived at the venue early to get a work out in, only to find he had forgotten something: the SHW title belt. Lev did the four hour round trip and made it back by bell time...Alexandra Quinn, Jimmy Daryn, Vivian Cross and Prince Moulay and AWOL were in the house as were Nick McDaniel and Myron Fancher from the Tapped Out Podcast...Chianne Michaels and her dog were backstage.
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